Signature Collections Company Sues Backers Of Arizona Proposition 206

The private company that collected signatures to put raising Arizona's minimum wage on the ballot is claiming it did not get fully paid for its efforts.

Sign Here Petitions said the backers of Proposition 206 still owe them $65,000. The company filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court this week. Attorney Paul Weich said that does not include a $1,000-a-day penalty that initiative organizers agreed to pay in late fees.

But Bill Scheel, the manager of the campaign to raise Arizona’s minimum wage to $12 an hour, said if anyone breached a contract, it was the signature gathering firm.

"Sign Here Petitions failed to properly screen and register its circulators, scores of its circulators," said Scheel. "And it resulted in the disqualification of tens of thousands of signatures."

Weich said the fact remains the initiative did qualify for the ballot because the judge did allow the signatures to be counted, whatever the reason. So he said his client is due everything owed.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to include comments from the attorney for Sign Here Petitions.